Wisconsin

State stewardship funds trimmed by $18 million

GOP lawmakers also want 10,000 state-owned acres sold

The Legislature's budget committee made major cuts and changes to Wisconsin's land conservation program Wednesday after Republicans on the panel expressed worries about its long-term cost.

The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 on a party-line vote to cut bonding for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program by a total of $18 million over the next two fiscal years.

And in a move that especially angered Democrats, Republicans called for the Department of Natural Resources, which runs the program, to put 10,000 acres of state land up for sale by June 30, 2017.

The Republicans preached fiscal responsibility during deliberations, while Democrats said stewardship funding was a keystone program that ensures the public has access to land for everything from bird watching and hiking to hunting and snowmobiling.

Since 1990, the DNR has purchased or bought easements to more than 560,000 acres, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. But the program is costing taxpayers $1.6 million a week in interest costs, and Republicans said that was too much.

"What we want to do is make sure the stewardship program is sustainable," said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills.)

But Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) disputed that.

"You are really gutting the stewardship program as we know it," he said. "This is a radical departure for the stewardship program from what we have seen in the past."

The big land purchase program is chiefly funded with bonding. The Legislature had authorized the DNR to spend $60 million a year for the program.

By a 12-4 party-line vote, Republicans defeated a proposal by Democrats to keep program spending at $60 million a year. In the previous budget cycle, funding had reached its high point at $86 million a year.

The panel took a harder line than the budget recommendation of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who also proposed keeping the program at $60 million a year.

On Wednesday the panel pared it 21% to $47.5 million in 2013-'14 and by 9% to $54.5 million in 2014-'15.

"We have to ask, when is enough enough?" said Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), co-chair of the panel. "It seems my friends on the other side of the aisle would say never is enough enough."

Republicans said they were saving the program - an idea rejected by Democrats.

The Republican lawmakers also sought more restrictions and closer legislative hand over the program.

One change would require the DNR to buy no more than a third of its land outright.

The DNR currently buys the title directly to much of its land. But on major deals, it purchases easements that keep ownership in another party's hands, but ensure public access in perpetuity.

Now more deals would likely be easements, if the panel's changes clear the Assembly and Senate and are signed by Walker.

Other changes:

• Delaying $14 million in funding for the Kettle Moraine Springs Hatchery in Sheboygan County by a year and requiring the DNR to justify the project.

• Barring the DNR from buying land outside the agency's project boundaries for certain properties, unless its gets a 12-4 vote from the budget panel.

• Selling at least 250 acres a year that could be used for farming through 2020. Those acres are in addition to the 10,000 acres that the DNR must put up for sale by 2017.

• Taking inventory of all DNR land and developing a plan ensuring access to properties by motor vehicle.

Despite all of the cuts, Democrats chided Republicans for including $145,800 to surface 6.9 miles of trail corridor, extending the Bearskin State Trail near Minocqua, which is in the district of Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst.)

But Rep. Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade) said the project has been in the planning for 20 years and is eligible for $54,200 in federal tax money.

A history of conservation

The cost of the land purchases and easements for stewardship has totaled $527 million as of June 30 of last year. The federal government has spent an additional $62.4 million.

The program is named after former Govs. Warren Knowles, a Republican, and Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat, who had strong conservation records when Wisconsin emerged as a leader in political environmentalism during the 1960s.

The program has helped pay for everything from developing bicycle trails and electrifying campsites to blockbuster deals such as the $35.1 million Wild Rivers Legacy Forest involving more than 64,000 acres in Florence, Forest and Marinette counties in 2007, 2009 and 2010.

In recent years, advocates say the program has been able to tap millions of dollars for deals with paper companies, which have increasingly sold off timber holdings as they concentrate on their manufacturing operations.

Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) described the funding cuts as a "shameful attack on people who hunt and fish in the state."

Democrats also complained that the cut from $86 million to $60 million came with a promise from Republicans that funding would be restored.

"We have new leaders elected every two years," Nygren countered. "To say a deal that was made two years ago is a deal that will stand forever is ridiculous."

In other action, the committee:

• Established a catch-and-release-only bass fishing season for parts of the state that do not have a continuous open season for bass fishing. The season would begin from early March to early May.

• Exempted people from having to get fishing licenses if they were fishing in a pond entirely on private land and if they had permission from the landowner.

• Continued the environmental education programs at the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center in Poynette through Aug. 15, 2014. State officials would also have to report on the condition of buildings at the center to the committee by June 1, 2014.

Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Madison.